I started to have a go at building a quarter scale model of HMS Victory in 1970, at the time I was living in Melbourne, Australia, and started looking around for plans and other information. In 1972 I saw a book for sale in one of the bookshops which was an HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office) publication entitled " HMS Victory, Building Restoration and Repair" authored by A.R.Bugler. The book consisted of an extremely detailed account of her construction, restoration and repair, with many photographs, and a companion slip case which contained a considerable number of quite detailed drawings. The plans were quarter scale, so I bought the publication. Shortly afterwards I came across another book, which was written mainly for ship modellers interested in building, not only a model of Victory but any wooden warship of the 18th Century. This book was called "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships" by a, then, serving Royal Naval Surgeon Nepean Longridge. He built his model from scratch and as he was doing so wrote down everything he did so that, in time, he was able to collate it all together to produce his excellent book. His finished model, which took him many years to complete - the Second World War having inconveniently got in the way -, and most of the parts required he made himself including ropes and general rigging - is still on display in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich for all to see.

Armed with these two books I duly set about having a go at building my model also from scratch, using the HMSO plans and at the same size/scale and my initial idea was to make a sailing model, this - many years later - eventually evaporated. Having cut out the frames, in a similar manner to Longridge, I was able to set up the model and build the hull up to Gun Deck level. This took until about October 1972. In January 1973 my wife Anne and I boarded Chandris Lines "Australis" at Melbourne as we were returning to England. (Details of this can be seen in my Chandris web pages on this site). I had made a special box in which to house the model - as it was some five feet in length - and it was carefully packed away for the long voyage home.

In due course we arrived back in England, and also in due course bought a house here and settled down to work in London, commuting each day by train, and to raising a family so the model took a back seat and was stored in the garage. And so it stayed until February 2014, some 42 years later! when I decided that I had better do something about it, but that I would settle for a non-sailing and non-rigged model... and so that is what has, and is, happening. The photographs below show the progress I have made. I have not slavishly followed to get everything 100 percent accurate and absolutely to scale.... that is beyond my capability and arthritic fingers at times do not help. BUT what I have produced and am producing is a fair representation of a First Rate of the period of the last quarter of the 18th Century.

The model as at February 2014 and this was as far as
I had got to in October 1972 except it was not undercoated.

The model upright showing hull with some frames
planked up to the gun deck.